OLDHAM in-store display specialist RMD is shifting its manufacturing operations to China to get its growth plans moving.

OLDHAM in-store display specialist RMD is shifting its manufacturing operations to China to get its growth plans moving.

The group, which employs 15 staff and turns over £3.5m, hopes a plant in the Far East will help boost the firm to 25 staff and revenues of £6m in two years.

Earlier this year, RMD was forced to downsize its manufacturing unit and make four redundancies.

But it is confident that the outlook for the company is positive now that it has secured solid trade links in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Nick Munday, sales manager at RMD, said: "We've taken the decision to run all our big bulk manufacturing from China and Poland because it gives us much stronger margins and allows our customers to buy on greater scales.

"We'll be doing prototyping, research development and design at Oldham but the bulk of our manufacturing will be in China and Poland.

"The move creates jobs in other areas because we'll become an importer and warehousing operation and we'll be looking at staffing in the Far East to manage our operations there.

"Moving all the manufacturing to China will fuel growth and bring load times right down, and we'll be able to pass the savings back to our customers."

RMD, which design and manufactures displays for major brands and retailers, said there would be no further downsizing in the UK because the company is anticipating increases in its sales and prototyping departments.